Eric Clapton

Live In San Diego (reprise)

Stellar line-up enriches legend’s live outing Back in March 2007, Eric Clapton’s world tour had reached San Diego’s oddlynamed iPayOne Center and, to the delight of everyone in attendance, EC welcomed JJ Cale on stage to add fuel to an already glowing evening of blues-tinted rock. Eric’s band on the night was an all-time barnstormer, comprising the guitar talents of Derek Trucks and Doyle Bramhall II, plus Willie Weeks on bass, Steve Jordan on drums, and Chris Stainton and Tim Carmon on keyboards. JJ Cale wasn’t the only guest that night as Robert Cray joined the fun on stage at one point, too.

This double-CD release – which is also available on triple-vinyl or as a digital download, depending on your format preferences – captures that evening’s magic with 16 tracks, the material being drawn from across EC’s career, but focusing somewhat around the period of the celebrated Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs era. Here, the slide work of Derek Trucks really does take centre stage as he seeks to replicate many of Duane Allman’s original slide guitar parts, as well as adding his own SG-powered finesse to the evening’s incendiary atmosphere along the way.

But it’s the presence of JJ Cale here that holds the most significance for Clapton. Throughout his career, Clapton has featured many of Cale’s songs – most famously Cocaine and After Midnight, both of which are featured here. At the time, Eric remarked, “This is the realisation of what may have been my last ambition, to work with the man who has inspired me for as long as I can remember," marking this release as something he obviously feels is personally very special. It’s a great listen for fans of Clapton, too, as the band was a tourtrained crack unit and Eric himself was playing on top of his form. [DM]

Standout track: Anyway The Wind Blows For fans of: JJ Cale, Allman Brothers, Derek And The Dominos